Fabric Crush: The Gnome Story

The Gnome Story | Available here

   I love buying online, but hate waiting for mail. I like the instant gratification of buying fabric from a brick and mortar shop, but since the local selection is limited I have to use online sources. To avoid excessive wait I rarely order from sellers outside the United States. Although sometimes I stumble upon a piece of fabric that I just can't let go no matter how long I have to wait for it. That was the case with this dutch fabric named "The Gnome Story".

  I fell in love with this fabric the instant I saw it, but I didn't know what I would make with it. After waiting a couple of weeks to get it, I promptly decided that it was to be hoarded stashed until the perfect project came up. Long story short, the fabric sat in my stash for almost a year and a half before I decided to cut into it. It wasn't until I was asked to make a Little Red Riding Hood doll that I decided to put it to good use. I used only a tiny piece of my precious fabric on this doll and odds are I'll wait quite some time before using the rest.

Red by Carrousel Dream Dolls

Little Red

Illustration from Childhood's Favorites and Fairy Stories

   A few weeks ago a customer asked me to work on a Little Red Riding Hood doll for her. I was happy to receive the custom order, but dreaded having to work on the hood so much I had nightmares. As I've said many times before, making clothes is not my forte. There are things I just can't figure out how to make and things get worse when they're for a shoulder-less doll. As you can imagine, that's a bit of an obstacle for a doll maker that likes to create a different outfit for each doll. I must say though, I think I've succeeded so far within my limitations.

Little Red Riding Hood by George Frederic Watts

   I searched online for a pattern or any tips that would help me construct the hood. After much fruitless searching I stumbled upon a website with a free Little Red Riding Hood Pattern. Since I create my own patterns, I had no use for the doll portion, but the hood part saved the day. I couldn't use it as it was because the size didn't match my doll pattern and I didn't love the shape, but it was a good starting point.

   After a lot of tweaking I ended up with a hood I love and will be using over and over again in the future. Once the hood was settled, everything else was easy. I pictured my little red blonde, so I hand-dyed some boucle to use for her hair. I knew I didn't want a completely red outfit, so I searched through my stash until I found the perfect fabric. I used white polka dots on a red background for her top and a dutch fabric called "The Gnome Story" for her skirt.

   Red's face is hand painted using acrylics, but this time I didn't feel like painting her shoes. I wanted to try something different, so I went for wool felt shoes. When Red was finally done, it was a hard letting her go. I keep falling in love with my dolls and sometimes I wish I could keep them.

Red by Carrousel Dream Dolls

A pirate's life for me!

  These past few days I've been working on an awesome custom order. I was lucky enough to be contacted by Sarah from  Misfits & Vagabonds to create a doll for her growing pirate themed collection. Sarah has been making dolls since she was a child, but just recently started to collect the creations of other doll makers.

Mini Misfit by Misfits & Vagabonds

   The best part? Total creative freedom! She told me that she wanted a pirate, but made no specifications. And so, my imagination has been running wild. It was hard to narrow down all the possibilities, but eventually I came up with a sketch that I love.

Pirate Girl by Carrousel Dream Dolls

  All my dolls start with a sketch drawn on a 3" x 5" index card. I try to include as many details as possible in each sketch and constantly refer to them as I work on my dolls. If I try to work on a doll before doing at least a rough sketch, I feel a bit lost. In the future I'll be sharing more of these sketches with you, but some will stay hidden in my little plastic box because they're not pretty enough to show the world.

French Royalty

Her Majesty The Queen of France and Navarre, Marie Antoinette.

   I must admit that I'm a huge fan of Marie Antoinette as a fashion icon. Her merits as a monarch are whole other discussion, but no one can ignore the influence she had on fashion. The idea of making a doll inspired on Marie had been floating around my head for some time, but for some reason I kept pushing it aside.

   A few weeks ago the perfect opportunity presented itself. I was invited to include one of my dolls on a showcase that had a "Diamonds and Pearls" theme. The first thing that came to my mind was Marie Antoinette. I went searching for some inspiration online and re-watched two of my favorites movies featuring Marie: Marie Antoinette & The Affair of the Necklace.

   After so much eye candy, I started working. I knew I wanted her to be pale and have her iconic pouf. I also knew that her clothes needed to be breathtaking. I chose Kona Pale Flesh for her skin and found some gorgeous undyed boucle online to use for her hair. The fabrics and trims I used for her dress where a combination of vintage and new from my stash.

  Her hair is decorated with genuine freshwater pearls, a bird, four roses, a pink satin ribbon bow and an ostrich feather. Marie's face and shoes are hand-painted using acrylics and fabric medium.

Oh! and she's a miniature dolly, she measures 9.5" from the tip of her feet to the top of her hair.  
 
  I'm in love with the results and was lucky to have more than one collector fall in love with Marie. I already have some ideas for other versions of Marie, so expect to see more of her.

Erm... *cough-cough* I'm Back!

   It's been over two months since my last blog post and it's about time I come back. I'm so excited!

   These past couple of months I've been focused on my doll making adventures and I'm still in love. I started a Facebook page, joined an awesome fb group and have been selling my dolls to doll lovers on the other side of the world. I'm gonna keep this post short because it's just a re-introduction, HI! So, please stay around and enjoy the ride. There are very pretty things to come. ;-)

Dolls: Say Hi To Sandy!

   I can't believe how much I enjoy creating these little people. I love the way they acquire a personality of their own as I make them. As I complete each part of the process they tell me what I should do next, and when I finish, they tell me their names and their styles. That's when I decide what their clothes and shoes should look like, and I do my best to recreate the image in my head. In my last post I told you that my next doll would have purple, green and blue hair. Here she is! Say hi to Sandy.

   I'm in love with Sandy! She is the first doll I make that is exactly what I had in mind when I started making dolls. First: Her hair is 100% merino wool, the yarn is hand-dyed and the felt is SUPER soft. Second: Her clothes can be changed and played with. Third: She is super colorful; I love colors. I've seen many doll makers that focus on using pastel colors, I always find those dolls gorgeous and I love them, but that is just not my style. When I create I need colors, the brighter the better; colors make me happy.

    I'm super happy with the yarn I told you about in my last post. The 40 yards were enough for Sandy's hair, yet I had to use every single strand that I had of it and if I had more I could have probably used it too. I used Kona Taupe for her skin and acrylic paints for her face and shoes.

   When I finished Sandy, she told me that she was a summer loving girl with a high sense of fashion. So I made her a short strapless sweetheart neckline dress with a flowy skirt. I love the way the skirt creates the illusion of having a petticoat underneath.

   The only thing that left me thinking about the dress is that since I don't own a serger I just pinked the raw seams. The thing is, I make purses and I'm used to having to line every single part of a piece so the raw edges won't show. This tiny garment making thing is new to me and I don't know if there's a secret for fully encasing the raw edges that I don't know about yet, otherwise I'm happy about it and its construction. The back fastens with a plastic snap.

   I definitely like the look of painted shoes, I can create many styles and I can embellish them as much as I need. I also think they look cute.

   So far I've made 3 dolls with pretty yarn hair, and I love the fabrics I found for their skin tones. So many possibilities, so little time.

Dolls: Wool Yarn = Hair!

   Hi! Look what arrived in my Po Box last week. These are bulky, 100% merino wool, 40yds skeins. I'm super happy with this yarn, I can't wait to make another doll so I can try it. The only downside is that I already cut one of the skeins and I think the 40 yards won't be enough. The good thing is that their colors are SO yummy I could even try to eat them. They're squishy, smell like the real thing and the texture is GREAT!

   My next doll is going to have purple, green and blue hair. Yay!

Dolls: I Want You To Meet Jasmine!

   I absolutely adore her with all my heart; I think she is my favorite. Don't tell Becky, Amanda or Sheila!

   This time the details on her bangs are a little different but they were pretty much impossible to photograph due to that super saturated pink. You'll have to figure them out from this picture or take my word for that. Again, I used my novelty yarns and sparkly cords to give her a super cute mane.

This picture doesn't make Jasmine justice.

   However, I made a couple of minor changes to the way I put her together. One of them is that I made her naked this time so her clothes can be played with and I made her a super cute tiered peasant dress. You see that? I'm already talking clothes. LOL

This time I used Kona Chocolate for the skin. I love it!

   The other change was the shoes, my other dolls have felt shoes but I painted Jasmine shoes with my handy acrylic paints. I like them better this way; I think they look dainty.

   Oh! and this week I received my tracer light box! I have a template I drew myself for my doll's faces, I don't like drawing directly on the fabric because I want the dolls to have similar features and I want them to be as symmetric as possible. It made it super easy to transfer the face template to the fabric. Prior to its arrival it was pretty much impossible to transfer faces to fabrics other than Kona Flesh. Now I can paint anything on any fabric color. Yay!

Dolls: Clothes for Becky

   Those of you who have followed this blog for a while might have noticed that I've been interested in making garments for a long time. You can read all about that here, here and here. However, I always ended up so scared to cut the pattern and fabric that I've not been able to actually make any clothes. Can you believe that?

   Well, since I started making dolls I've been trying to remember what I loved most about dolls when I was a kid. One of those things was being able to play with their hair and the other was being able to change their clothes. The hair was easy to fix by using yarn instead of felt, but to be able to change the clothes I needed to make more clothes. OMG! I seriously thought of giving up and keep sewing the clothes directly on the doll. The felt collar and colored body on dolls like Amanda and Sheila  was the most I believed I was capable of doing. Don't get me wrong, I have nothing against that style, but I really wanted my dolls to have real clothes.

   It all started with a regular elastic waist skirt that I learned to make by using a doll pattern over a year ago. This one was made with the remnants of the bubble skirt I tried to make for Becky after I cut off the waist band. I like it better this way.

   Then I tried to make a peasant dress, I've seen this kind of dress everywhere recently probably because of the summer. I watched a video on YouTube and thought, why not? I drafted a pattern based on Becky's body and this dress was the result. I still need to tweak the length because it's too long for a shirt and too short for a dress but it fits her beautifully for a first attempt.

   I'd already made a dress so I felt invincible and decided that it was time for something more complicated; a party dress. I drafted a bodice pattern once again based on Becky's body but when I started, I noticed something... Becky doesn't have shoulders! Then I gave it a lot of thought and resolved that I could use the top of her arms as shoulders, trouble solved. From the picture above: 1) First draft: I attempted to make a bodice without lining... that didn't work. 2) Second draft: I lined the bodice and that worked better. 3) Third draft: I lined the bodice and decided to change the shape slightly. I rounded the neckline a little bit more and made the armholes much smaller.

   This would be draft #4, the bodice is lined and it's almost exactly the same as #3 but a little bit shorter. I liked it enough to make the skirt. I followed 2 different tutorials to make this dress, this one by Stitch in My Side and this one by Oh Strumpets!. The only thing I did different to these tutorials was the finishing of the skirt on the back.

   And I love how it fits her but as you can see the felt collar and the dress don't look good together. I'm fixing that next time by making the head and the body in one piece, so no neck seam. My next doll will be able to use any clothes I make her, I'm SO excited!

This could be a start for me to make my own clothes, what do you think?

Dolls: Say Hi To Becky!

   Okay, say hi to Becky! I think I might be getting a little repetitive here but I'm in LOVE!!! I found a way to make Sheila's pattern work and I couldn't wait to try it. I did change the arms a little bit so they didn't look too curved, but that's the only change I made to the body.

   I'd say this doll is a successful experiment. The face is hand-painted with acrylic paints instead of fabric markers. I used wool felt instead of acrylic felt and I gave yarn hair a try. I'm in LOVE with all those changes!

I also attempted to make a bubble skirt but it didn't work
 exactly as I expected so I'm treating it as a regular skirt.

   My absolute favorite part of this doll is the hair, every strand of yarn, ribbon or string was hand-sewn one by one onto her scalp. It took me many hours to sew the colorful details as they were triple stitched in place. The bulky yarn went much faster and I just LOVE how full it makes her mane look. I can't wait to try this with better yarn; this is just some acrylic I had in my stash.

   I also stitched some colorful bits on her bangs to pull it all together

Her mane from the back.

   The only thing I'll change next time is the size of the face, I'd make all her features a tad smaller. I loved her eyes and full shiny lips, though. What do you think?

Dolls: Practicing Faces with Acrylic Paint

   One of my favorite parts of making dollies is drawing the face; it gives them personality. The dolls I've made recently had their faces drawn with Sharpie Stained fabric markers. I really liked the results, but as a creative person I felt like they didn't completely fulfill the look I was going for. They were not opaque so I couldn't use them on dark fabrics, the colors were limited and the ink bled way too much to trust them. It actually took a while to draw the faces with them. I had to let the ink dry completely before putting any other colors or they would mix together making a mess of my cute doll face.

   So I decided to paint the faces. I wasn't sure if I should just get fabric paint or if it was a better idea to get a fabric medium to mix with acrylic paints. After a little bit of research I found that the fabric medium with acrylic paint would give me more versatility, colors and a better price. I went to my local craft store to see what I found, not completely opposed to the idea of the fabric paints if they convinced me. Then I found a rack with acrylic paint that was so messy I couldn't find the colors I was looking for and the paints didn't really look fresh, but that was all the paint they had. Eventually, I found the fabric medium and decided to hunt for a few colors just to be able to try them. When I went to pay, the cashier told me that they were on sale at $1 each, SCORE! I got home, stirred the paints and they were good as new. So I decided to practice on a panel of natural muslin and this is the result!

Acrylic paint without fabric medium

   I'm in LOVE!!!! I think I'll never go back to embroidery or fabric markers, ever. I love to be able to add highlights and shadow to create a little bit of a 3d look, though I'm more fond of a cartoonish look.

Acrylic paint WITH fabric medium

   Now I need to see which one of these faces I'd choose or what features I'm going to mix and match for my first try on Kona. Any ideas?

Fabric Crush #27 + Designer Interview

   Do you love fabric? and what about cats? I sure do, but I've always had the feeling that to create a successful mix of those two requires a lot of planning and talent. I'll show you my favorite cat fabric ever, and its designer. Say hi to Kathy Weller!

Via

Blog

Shop

...and say hi to the kitties!

Available at The Fat Quarter Shop

Via

Via

A couple of months ago I had the chance to see this fabric line for the first time in Julia Bravo's Blog. It was love at first sight, so I contacted Kathy about an interview and she was nice enough to answer my crazy questions. 

*Crazy questions below this paragraph.* LOL

Reading through your blog, I couldn't help but notice that cats and dogs feature prominently in your work. Are you an animal lover? Do you have pets? Tell us the story of fido or fluffy!

Yes! My husband and I currently have one pug, Daisy. Here's a fun fact: I was a custom pet portrait artist for five years before entering the world of fabric design and product art!

Via

How was the process of designing your fabulous fabric line? Did you get it right right away? or Was it a long process of hit and miss until you got it right?

Certain portions of the Jive Cats collection are pretty much exactly as I first sketched them out in my sketchbook (except for the fact that the Jive Cats designs in my sketchbook are all in pencil.) Other elements required a little give and take. This was my first collection with Northcott, as well as my first fabric collection in general, so I had a lot to learn as far as fabric printing goes as well as repeats and such. I was fortunate to have had such a good teacher in Deborah, Northcott's Design Director.

I read that you don't sew, but I've seen in your blog that you seem to be full of ideas for those who do. Is there something in particular you'd like to see made out of your fabric line?

I think a little girls' (or big girls' for that matter!) skirt or dress would be so perfect!

Via

Via

Where do you find inspiration? Do you go to the park and sit there to sip a cup of tea while you write down some of your awesome ideas or are you more of a Pinterest kind of girl?

You know, I do love the idea of Pinterest, but I'm not so successful at using it. I feel like there is some secret to Pinterest that I am not privy to. That said, one of my favorite things to do is to just go sketch at the library or a coffee shop. The white noise and anonymity factor really helps me to zone in and focus on my work.

What does a day in the life of Kathy Weller looks like? Do you have a routine or something quirky that you do everyday that you'd like to share? How do you like your coffee in the morning?

I do love coffee. But I feel I'd be leaving something out if I don't divulge my addiction to Starbucks green tea latte. It's great both hot or cold, but here's my big tip: get it unsweetened, and with an extra scoop of matcha powder. Perfect!

Is there anything you would like to say to the fabric loving community?

If you see me at Quilt Market, please say Hello! I would love to meet you! :D

Thank you so much Kathy for giving us the chance to know you.

What do you think? Isn't her fabric line just perfect?

I can't wait to make a couple of things from this fabric, I've been hoarding it for around 2 months. XD

Dolls: This is Amanda.

   Remember I told you I'd fix Sheila's pattern to make her easier to sew? Well I did, but I need to say that I'm not happy with those changes. This is Amanda and I'm not sure about her.

2nd prototype

   The changes I made, make it super easy to sew, but the resulting doll doesn't feel the same. Amanda is 2" taller and a little chubbier; I normally like chubby but in this case I like the original better. Sheila is much lighter and at 13.5" she is a good size for little girls. I changed the arms because I thought Sheila looked like she was contracting her biceps, but the new arms look like creepy fingers extending out of Amanda's body. I made her legs skinnier and longer but I think they don't match with her body. I also made her puffy ponytail bigger which doesn't work because now it feels flimsy, same with the bow. So, for the next prototype I need to rethink the whole doll so I don't make any other miserable mistake. I'll save this pattern though, in case the parts can be used at any other time.

   For this doll's skin I used Kona Taupe, I'm not sure I love that color for a darker skin tone though. I also have some Kona Earth that I want to try, we'll see. The face was drawn with Sharpie Stained markers, including the cheeks which I normally make from felt. When I use Kona Flesh for the skin, it's easy to see the face template through the fabric but in this fabric it was impossible, so I used blue carbon paper to transfer it. It was a big fail because when I soaked the fabric to make the lines disappear, the ink (which I hadn't set yet) bled a little and the areas already marked over with the pink marker couldn't be erased at all. That's why I made her lips red, to hide the lines a little. I'll probably get me a tracer light box to make this step easier.

   In the coming days I think I'll go back to the beginning and work from there. I'll have to alter the way the doll is put together to avoid all the fiddliness, but I think It'll be worth it. I can't wait to get the pattern all right so I can start using my wool felt. What do you think?

Dolls: I Want You To Meet Sheila!

   For over a month now I've been working on a pattern for a cute little doll. Last week I decided to try what I had so far and here it is, Sheila would be the first prototype! and I LOVE how she turned out.

   But as much as I love her, I need to say that she was a pain in the a*%$! to sew. For those of you who have made dolls or would understand the process, everything was fine until I had to put her together/sew the body. Her little torso and neck were too narrow to contain her long legs, arms and big feet. Let's say I had to hand-stitch some areas where the sewing machine just wouldn't go through.

   Yikes! That would be Sheila's underarm. At that point everything was too fiddly and as you can see, I couldn't make a blind stitch.

   I'm working on fixing all the little details that went wrong with Sheila. You know, because I might want to make many more dolls and I want to enjoy the process as well as render a high quality product. ;-)

Don't you think I'm cute?

   Again, I used Sharpie Stained fabric markers to draw her features. I really like those markers but they're to be treated with respect; if you don't make light quick strokes the ink will bleed... badly. Her skin fabric is Kona flesh, her hair and details are acrylic felt and the rest are regular quilting fabrics.

I gave her a curly ponytail which I love!

   One thing makes me sad. I really like Sheila, but I have to give up many of her distinctive quirks on behalf of her survival. We'll see how it turns out. See you later!

I Love My Dolly! :D

   I'm in looove!!! Remember when I told you that I'd make a doll from a Dolls & Daydreams pattern? Well, I made her, and she is gorgeous! Even if I say so myself. :D

Made using the Little Sister doll pattern by Dolls & Daydreams

   I LOVED the pattern, it was easy to work with, used very little materials and the results were great. I even learned a couple of new tricks, thanks to Sarah's great instructions.

   She was made using 100% cotton fabrics, acrylic felt and polyester fiberfill; her face was drawn using Sharpie Stained fabric markers. I used acrylic felt because I made her for myself but if I was to sell a handmade dolly, I'd definitely use wool felt. I might even give wool stuffing a go, what do you think?

   Here are 2 sneak peeks of the dolly I snapped a couple of days ago through Instagram.

Have a nice week!

My Month Through Instagram

   It's been a while since I showed you my life through Instagram, so I thought, why not?

1. Breakfast: Oatmeal pancakes!
2. Scrap basket after it was organized.
3. Super happy mail day.
4. Zipper wallet, second attempt.
5. Coin pouches.
6. Handmade heart applique.
7. Homemade pizza.
8. Curry chicken with white rice.
9. Shoulder bag, I really love that fabric.
10. Some of my creations ready to be sold.
11. Finished custom clutch.
12. With the family eating pizza.
13. The pizza I ate with my family.
14. One of my dream cars.
15. Fabric shopping.
16. A Singer Featherweight someone left at the repair store where I got my precious machine. :D
17. Rice flour pancakes with bananas and strawberry jam.
18. First thing sewn entirely using my precious vintage sewing machine.
19. Dinner: Steak with loaded mashed yam.
20. Another shoulder bag made from lovely fabrics.
21. Shrimp in a coconut-curry sauce with fried plantain.
22. Chocolate cupcake with meringue topping.
23. My retouched blue streaks.
24. Tacos!
25. Getting ready to list some items on Etsy.
26. I listed many items on my Etsy shop: 18.0.7
27. Baked potato with shrimp.
28. This one is unbelievable, someone left that cute ginger kitten at my window. I woke up to his cry and I obviously brought him into the house. I bathed him, fed him and treated his ear-mites. I'm not sure he will stay (I would find him a loving home in any case) but I'm trying to decide on a name. What do you think, Lucky or Chester?

Would you like to see these (and some others) happen in real time? Then follow me, my username is: yadiras_adventures